Green leader Zack Polanski has been praised for how he handled an anti-trans line of questioning by Piers Morgan during an interview.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/20230347

Polanski, who was elected leader of the England and Wales Greens in a landslide victory last month, after campaigning on a pro-trans, eco-populism platform, appeared on YouTube show Piers Morgan Uncensored where he was asked whether a woman can have a penis, a query seen by many as an anti-trans dog whistle.

“Yes,” he replied immediately, before taking a swipe at incredibly long NHS waiting times: “It’s going to take them a long time on the National Health Service to get rid of it but that’s another problem. I think we’ll leave it on a woman can have a penis.”

  • dandelion (she/her)@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    5·
    17 hours ago

    the rest of the relevant exchange described in the article, so you don’t have to go to that god-awful website:

    But Polanski was unwilling to let it drop. “I think you’re lacking nuance and complexity about a pretty complicated conversation,” he said, and when Morgan responded by saying: “I asked a simple question,” the Greens leader added: “But you’re laughing at it, which I think demeans trans people.

    “What have you got against trans people? Why are you punching down? Why are you not saying the real problem? It sounds like you have a huge problem with trans people.”

    Morgan replied: “It sounds to me like you don’t understand what a woman is, which I think is a huge problem for someone leading a party in this country.”

    The back-and-forth continued with Morgan predicting there “is not a cat in hell’s chance of [Polanski] ever becoming prime minister if you don’t know what a woman is”.

    “Why don’t you go out tomorrow with your big campaign that women can have penises,” Morgan urged sarcastically. “See how you get on, see how it plays out.”

    Polanski accused the former Sun columnist of trying to divert attention from key issues related to equality but Morgan proceeded to say that he was entitled to ask a party what he believed, prompting the reply: “You’re absolutely entitled and people are entitled to see the absolute ludicrousness of these questions rather than tackling the inequality and the fact we’re not funding [the] health service.”

    But Morgan persisted, saying: “Actually, they’re worried about women’s rights.”

    Polanski replied: “I’m worried about women’s rights too. I offered several times to talk about the police force, I offered several times to talk about the inequality pay gap. Let’s have a conversation about women’s rights but let’s not talk about trans women specifically.”

    Rather like a dog with a bone, Morgan repeated: “You said women have penises,” to which Polanski replied: “If a woman is transitioning, then they can have a penis.”

    Morgan described that answer as bulls**t.

    “Since when were you a doctor or an expert in women’s rights or UK science?” Polanski asked.

    In response, Morgan quoted the UK Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this year which defined the protected characteristic of sex in the 2010 Equality Act as referring to biology and the word “woman” as a “biological woman”.

    Here is a youtube link if you wish to watch some of the exchange: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/6D0EsnP_Sxo